Wednesday 29th July 2009 ~ Walking a Tightrope

The people at 'First' who sanctioned the order for Gemini B9s may now be having second thoughts. At the moment a constant battle is raging to keep enough vehicles on the road to provide the full X1 service. Yesterday 37576 was rushed to Volvo and an injector problem was rectified in time for it to return last night and be back on the road today (K5). A Volvo fitter attended 37570 at King's Lynn also last night for checking its ABS sensor which has been a constant source of stress to the operators for the last few months. This was in service again today on K17. 37573 is now believed to have arrived at Volvo in Norwich where it has joined 20353 and 37577. 577's problems are more serious hence its longer stay there.
Today 37572 which was on its 54th consecutive days work failed in Norwich on K18. A local Scania worked forward. 20115 took up the return part of the turn.
37579 has adjourned to Rowan Road following yesterday's accident at Toftwood pending movement for body repairs.
As if all this wasn't enough, today one of the drivers working King's Lynn to Peterborough was not carded for B9s, so K15 with 37574 and this afternoon K4 with 37568 were both replaced by 20106 for the trips to Peterborough. While 37574 resumed its turn, 37568 did not and 106 changed for 20103 on K4. 20103 had itself arrived just after 19.00 on Y9.
The shortfall of B9s was accounted for as follows : K3 20118 (yes it did return last night - I just lost it somewhere !), Y6 20104, L8 20352, Y9 20103, L11 20109, K16 20127, K19 34108. When one adds in the two trips to Peterborough by 20106 and 20115 replacing 37572, this makes for depressing reading for those in charge. Two B10Ms which are unlikely to feature this week are 20131 on which the MOT expired yesterday and on which a considerable amount of welding is required and 20105 which is at Rowan Road also but sidelined because it has been overheating. 20121 was used on staff shuttles today and appears to be OK.
Rob Brooks has provided some valuable sightings lately and says : " Travelled on 34108 to Wisbech, very smooth ride indeed, could do with the whole lot of them on here, and relegate the Geminis to X2s. Speaking of Geminis, I don't think any of them are cleared for 62. My Gemini Speed Checking device has 37567 clocked at 53 along the A47, no traffic ahead to speak of. Majority of the ones I've tracked have done just about the same. 579 is the only one I've experienced doing 57 along the same stretch". Well Rob, I've followed a few in the car doing 60mph or thereabouts including 37572 a couple of nights ago, so I guess the new schedules are proving easier on the A47 west of Wisbech. Thanks also to a bronzed Bruce who has returned from Devon - it's not a tan apparently, it's rust he says. He had to take his kids to the cinema this afternoon and missed the guest appearance of 20115, but provided much of today's information.
On the X2 Michael Bryant reports 20127 in use on the 14.38 Lowestoft - Beccles on Monday, so it did originate from Lowestoft yesterday after all. Still no sign of 37566 today though. Sam saw 20109 on the X2 yesterday before it returned today on L11. Punctuality was good again today but 20118 on K3 was about 15 late from Wisbech this evening, however, Peter reports it departing Peterborough 2 minutes early on the return !
The local bus situation at King's Lynn has been poor this week and made worse this afternoon when Scania 65531 was involved in an accident at West Newton putting it off the road. Classic Olympian 34921 was on 44s yesterday evening and arrived in from Hunstanton tonight